Rita has started to read many book and write essays. However, she is not reading the kind of books that would help her pass the examination and she still hasn't improved her essays. One of the reasons why Rita's essays are wrong is that she has been writing them when she had some free time at the shop, and they are too short. Frank learns that Rita's husband doesn't like her taking the course and writing essays at home. In spite of not having her family's support, Rita feels that taking the course makes her stronger.
6 comments:
I see your point, Adri... yet, don't you feel Rita's looking down on those around her when she assumes they have no goals in life but to make ends meet, and that their lives are "meaningless"? By insisting on "feeding her" with college culture, isn't Frank encouraging her to believe the upper class "knows better"?
Is this what school has taught you? Is this what you'd like to teach your learners?
Food for thought!
Fondly,
Is this what school has taught you?
Gladys
Blogger Adri said...
Hi Gladys!
I don't think Rita looks down on those around her because she is part of that too. She sais:"(about culture)It is a way of livin´, doesn't it? Well, we've got no culture". I think that Rita feels that education is very important for her, but not everybody feels that way. There are lots of people who couldn't care less about reading and studing. For example, Rita's husband is just not interested in receiveng any kind of education, and unlike Rita he lives happily like that. And othes may not have realised what education can do for them or didn't have the chance to keep on studying. For example, the lady at the shop who becames really interested in Peer Gynt when Rita tells her abut the book. It's all about which is the best way of living for us. I mean, Rita's ethics is not the same as her husband's or the others around her. Every person has to make his or her own choices. We can't say that a social class or a job is better than other. But we can create awareness of the rewards that education can give us and let students choose if they want to keep on studying or not.
Are you suggesting not being interested in academic learning equates to not being interested in getting an education, and that the lack of degrees imply somebody has no culture, Adriana?
Having asked that, let me tell you I passionately believe in the last part of your comment: that everybody has the right to choose how to live best, and that educators should help people become aware of their options.
Peace,
Gladys
I think that Rita feels sad and hopeless about the life that other people in her situation are living becauseshe feels that there is no difference between them since the only thing that his husband (and the others in the same situation) is doing is surviving and not living.
What Denny and the others are leaving behind: their feelings, their hopes, their capacity of reasoning and fighting for their dreams.
I love your idea : everybody has the right to choose how to live best.
Kisses
Mari
Hi Gladys and Mariana!
Rita's family have their own way of living, their own culture. Perhaps that way of living doesn't fit Rita's ideals. As Mariana said, Rita feels that her family does nothing but survive, and as she has a need for knowing more about the world and living a life more similar to Frank's life, she has decided to study. Rita has made her decision, and her husband has made his own. It doesn't mean that upper classes and educated people know better, it's just that Rita sees in education a way of chanching a lifestile that she doesn't like. We don't have to like the same things, right?
Best regards, Adri
I really love this last comment of yours, Adri! As educators, I think part of our job involves preparing students to make their own choices and also educating them so that they can live happily in diversity. Also, I believe we need to become aware of the huge cultural gaps there may be between school and home, and find ways in which they can be bridged, so that our students are not torn apart between two views of life...
On second thought, maybe being a teacher is too ambitious... (tongue in cheek, you know I can't fancy myself being something else).
LOL,
Gladys
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